“It’s a winter like no other,” said Hirt, 34, of Port Clinton. “We may not see another like this in my lifetime.”

So he and his friends are making the most of it and getting to the islands as much as possible. They eat dinner at Put-in-Bay and visit with the islanders.

“It’s just a lot of fun to enjoy the island being quiet,” he said.

Snowmobiling has picked up throughout the area this winter, and snowmobiles have been spotted around Ottawa and Sandusky counties. Over the weekend, the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office received five snowmobile complaints, mostly of people snowmobiling in fields or yards without permission.

The last time Hirt remembers being able to drive his snowmobile to Put-in-Bay was about three years ago, but the ice wasn’t nearly as solid.

“To be this good, it’s very rare,” he said. “To be able to do it and risk a little bit, it’s about every five years.”

The Great Lakes have the best ice cover in years. The last time they were this close to being almost completely covered was 1994.

As of Sunday, Lake Erie was more than 90 percent covered, and part of the Western Basin was 100 percent covered, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Center in Ann Arbor, Mich.

The favorable conditions have also been good for snowmobile sales, said Dan Jenkins, owner of J&J Sales in Port Clinton and in Huron.

Between the two locations, J&J Sales — which specializes in motor sport equipment and sells everything from jet skis to all-terrain vehicles — has sold an estimated 300 snowmobiles this winter, he said. They range in price from $7,000 to $14,000 for a new one and $500 to $10,000 for a used one, he said.

The business also sells ATVs that can be used for ice fishing, and it has done well with those this year, too, he said.

“This has been an exceptionally good year,” Jenkins said.

Jenkins, who has been snowmobiling since 1968, said the conditions have been the best in 20 years for snowmobiles.

“We have snow, pure and simple,” he said. “And we have snow everywhere. Most hard-core snowmobilers don’t get to go much in Ohio.”

They need consistent amounts of snow, and Ohio doesn’t normally have that, he said. He and others who snowmobile regularly tend to head to northern Michigan.

This year has been nice because they can stay closer to home, he said.

“There’s a very large snowmobile contingent on the islands,” he said. “They use them for transportation and ice fishing.”

He recommends anyone going out on the lake drive with someone experienced who knows exactly where to go. There is an ice trail from Catawba Island State Park to Put-in-Bay that is marked with Christmas trees, he said.

“The thing with the ice is you think it’s a flat surface, but it’s not,” Jenkins said. “You have to be very careful on the lake.”